Everton in Relegation Dogfight

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Article by Bryn Tracey

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From the cusp of the Champions League to being four points off the relegation zone is probably not something many Evertonian’s envisaged at the start of this season. But if I am brutally honest I predicted this very downfall before a ball had even been kicked at the start of the season on the 16th of August . It comes as no surprise to me that Roberto Martinez’s men are struggling pitifully 13th in the table with four straight defeats. Certainly when you think back to his days as Wigan manager and the abundance of goals those Wigan teams were guilty of conceding then it should come as no surprise that the same problem has reared its ugly head now at Everton.

I remember during pre season talking with fellow Blue’s and sharing my belief that I worry we are in for a relegation dogfight. It was mainly based on Martinez’s record of goals conceded at Wigan but also on the Europa League. I like many others thought a mix of the extra games, the possibility of drawing a team from a remote part of Russia or eastern Europe and having to travel obscene distances and the impact that would have on the squad, plus the whole “second season syndrome” where other teams would have found us out would contribute to a poor season. But the Europa League is the only competition we have actually performed well in. For me the Europa League has had no bearing on our league form whatsoever as it has on other teams in previous seasons.

Don’t get me wrong here, I loved Roberto Martinez, I still do if truth be told, but love him as a person and a footballing man whenever I saw him in interviews at Swansea and Wigan and then for Everton. But the day he was appointed Everton manager I feared the worst. I feared the very fact that Everton under Moyes had consistently good defensive records, at times one of the best defensive records in the Premier League season after season. I knew Martinez was a different type of coach and played the “Barcelona Way”. I didn’t think it was going to work for us and that the hearty stalwarts of our back four…Jagielka and Distin, would be forced into an alienating brand of football leading to embarrassing hammerings. I just couldn’t see past the fact that although he had won an FA Cup with Wigan just days later he was relegated with Wigan.

I am not one for facts and figures, they don’t interest me at all or should I say researching them doesn’t interest me at all. However you cannot hide from them and that 2012/13 season Wigan kept just four clean sheets. One of which was against fellow relegation fodder Reading who worryingly had conceded 73 goals that season. Even more worryingly Wigan had also shipped in 73 goals which made Wigan and Reading officially the two joint worst defences in the Premier League that season. One of the other clean sheets was kept against Aston Villa who were the second worst defence in 2012/13 with 69 goals conceded. Everton in contrast had the fourth best defensive record that same season. They even had a better defensive record than Manchester United who won the title with ease.

So I had to hold my hand up throughout last season when we were playing some of the best football we have seen at Goodison since the “Holy Trinity” graced the hallowed turf. I was as excited as everyone else was with the feast of football Roberto and the boys were serving us up on a weekly basis. We started to dream of the Champions League and actually making it through the group stages the second time around. Dreams of the Nou Camp or the Bernabeu, Signal Iduna Park or the Allianz Arena only to stumble with some dismal performances against Southampton and Crystal Palace. But lest we forget we actually finished with the third best defensive record last season. So what was all my worry about? I was on cloud nine with everyone else, “the school of science” was back as was European football albeit the Europa League and not the Champions League. We moved into the summer transfer window and the club who previously relied on loans and free transfer’s magically had £28 million to spend on one player.For me the worry was that it was a hefty fee on an unproven 20 year old Belgian. But Roberto Martinez had put together arguably the strongest squad we have ever had and expectations for most were high.

Fast forward to now and It’s all so very different and it doesn’t seem to be showing any chances of getting any better. We have already shipped in 33 goals, the same as bottom placed Leicester. In fact there’s only QPR with a worse record than that and by the time of the next home game against Manchester City we will probably have the worst defensive record in the Premier League.

So why is it going so wrong? Well where do I start? I may as well start with the most recent embarrassment the New Year’s Day defeat to Hull. The first problem, one of so many dogging Martinez’s troops this season but as good a place to start as any. Two words Gareth Barry. He has been absolutely awful this season and simply has to be dropped there’s no two ways about it. His reaction to Hull’s second goal once he realised his error in trying to play the offside trap is just unacceptable in a blue shirt. His lack of pace alone is a concern and it has been masked by the workhorse that is James McCarthy. But Barry just isn’t putting in a shift and is woeful. Personally I find him the most frustrating player in a blue shirt. Week after week and game after game he commits a needless and pointless foul that slows the game and lands him a card. The other player who for me was at fault for both goals is Joel Robles. That leads into the next problem Everton have which is Tim Howards injury. We miss him and Robles is a shocking understudy. Fact. Why he remained rooted to the spot on Hull’s second goal is beyond anything I can fathom.

It’s not just these two players there’s Alcaraz who is technically sound, but he has been substandard since the minute Martinez brought him in with him from Wigan. And when not substandard he is on the treatment table collecting his sick note. We know Martinez likes to build from the back and Alcaraz is good on the deck but he isn’t good enough at this moment in time for us. We miss John Stones who I believe will be one of the finest centre backs English football has seen in time. Although at times he can be a liability trying to dribble out from the back his positional play and his tackling are excellent. He is the type of footballer that could play anywhere as he is technically so very good. The sooner we get him back the better but my big concern is he comes into this struggling Everton team and his confidence gets shattered. Which leads into the next problem which is confidence. To put it bluntly there is none. Martinez’s stubbornness in refusing to change his style of play means we are getting found out, teams know how to beat us and morale is lower than Atlantis. Confidence is everything in football and right now we have none.

Amongst Martinez’s stubbornness to change his style of play is the way he has a frustrating way of playing players out of position which is the next problem. Barkley is not a number ten and Eto’o is not a midfielder. I just don’t see the sense in playing Eto’o on the wing or behind a striker. He is one of the best strikers that has played the game. Play him in that position and he may actually score goals which for our strikers is quite rare. As for Barkley he is not a number 10, he cannot influence the game from off the shoulder of the loan striker. Barkley has an insane range of passing and his vision at times is outstanding for his tender years. Seeing as though we lack a creative spark in the middle of the park why is he not played deeper? He is one of the best talents this country has ever produced. From a deeper role he can drive us up the pitch, run at defenders, scare them but more importantly he can spray the ball around. He had his best game for us so far this season against QPR where he played alongside Besic in the defensive midfield roles usually occupied by McCarthy and Barry. But that change was forced due to injury and suspension.

That brings me to yet another problem which is Martinez refusing to drop certain out of form players. One of which is Barry which I have already alluded to but there are others. Baines and Coleman have been off the boil for a few games and seeing as though we have many options on the left side I just don’t see why nothing is done about it. I rate Baines very highly and I actually think he could play the Phillip Lahm role in midfield. But I have been banging the drum for ages to the tune of “why don’t we see Baines in the left wing role?” We have a fantastic talent in Luke Garbutt at left back. Martinez teased us with that very situation against Newcastle but then for some inexplicable reason didn’t even put Garbutt in the 18 against Hull. Let’s hope it was not for comments made after the Newcastle game about the system deployed by Martinez that day. It makes no sense at all. Baines was poor, he switched him to left midfield and I think it gave Baines extra impetus. His vision for Mirallas’ goal against Newcastle was outstanding. There’s also the option of Oviedo down the left side now he is fit again. Why did Tyias Browning come off the bench in a Merseyside derby and play right wing and play it very well (even though he is a right back who many believe will end up playing as a centre back), and never get another kick in the Premier League so far? And why does Aiden McGeady get in over Pienaar, if it’s a case of fitness then I don’t believe it as surely Pienaar can give us 60 minutes down the left flank at least?

Fitness is another of the many problems Everton are facing right now and has been a problem since the start of pre season. We simply do not look sharp nor fit enough and it cannot be blamed on the Europa League. That started in September and finished in December and isn’t due to start up again until February. There was no Europa League games in August and there’s none through January so why do we look unfit? Surely more games via Europe should increase fitness levels? We have not looked fit enough all season and that just isn’t acceptable for professional athletes. If the Europa League has tired the players why not rest some and use players like Besic, Garbutt, Browning et al more because logic would say spread the games across the rest of the squad. These players are talents and need games to improve as players but also to improve us as a squad.

The penultimate problem with Everton and one which is so easily rectified is our poor set pieces. We clearly do not practice them and this alone makes us look like absolute amateurs kicking a ball around on a Sunday morning. We have some of the best dead ball specialists in the league. Baines,Mirallas,Barkley even Lukaku can hit a free kick and we also have young Garbutt now. He took just about every dead ball in his only Premier League start against Newcastle which shows how well thought of he is. Its no good having these dead ball specialists if we cant even take a corner. You can win games from dead ball situations and I think it’s a disgrace if they are not practiced in training.

But the biggest problem has to be Roberto Martinez’s insistence on playing the same old system and the same style of football. We all love possession based football but it has to be fused with a hunger and a desire. We lack fight and passing the ball around the back four and not penetrating enough is not going to win matches. Yes if you have the ball all the time and the opposition can’t get the ball then they can’t score goals. But you have to score goals when you have the ball to win games it’s very simple. At the moment morale and confidence are both shot to pieces and there are players who do not look comfortable on the ball. In fact there are players who are frightened of the ball such is the lack of confidence. Everton look devoid of ideas and the play in the final third is shocking.

People say we need a creative force in the middle of the park, we have one and his name is Ross Barkley. I would love to see Barkley and McCarthy or even Barkley and Besic get a run of games in the defensive midfield areas. I hear people saying we need a wide man yet we have several options in those areas. If Atsu is not highly rated enough and McGeady struggling then It’s time to move.

Baines up the field and use either Oviedo or Garbutt at the back. We will not find a winger in this window nor a midfielder that is going to turn our season around it’s just not going to happen. We have a squad of good players but some of them are not getting games and too many are played in the wrong positions.

Unfortunately it doesn’t look like it’s going to get any easier for the Toffees. Adding to all of the aforementioned problems we have a nightmare run of games after Manchester City…first there’s two teams scrapping for their lives in the Premier League West Brom at home and Crystal Palace away. Both teams with new managers and a group of players fighting to impress those new managers into giving them game time and not shipping them out during the transfer window. Follow that up with the Merseyside derby and throw in what could be a second humiliation away at Chelsea and I would say you can safely bet we will be stuck in the bottom three come February 22nd when we play Leicester at home in what is looking likely to be a relegation clash.

Even more of a concern is that we don’t have a single player capable of being in a relegation fight. For that you have to have confidence, belief and a hunger to fight. Unfortunately Roberto Martinez’s refusal to adapt his style of play has ripped out all of the fight they had.

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